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Traditional national armies are getting competition from another kind of fighting force — mercenaries.  In this episode from the national security podcast, “Things That Go Boom,” Laicie Heeley reports on Russian-sponsored private armies and the challenge they pose for the US military.

Host Marco Werman speaks with The World's Rebecca Kanthor in Shanghai, about the reaction to President Donald Trump's executive order barring the Chinese super-app WeChat, which is used for making purchases, following the news, messaging and video chats that connect many people in the US with family and friends in China.

Two days after Belarusians went to the polls in a highly contested election, the opposition candidate was forced to flee to Lithuania. Protests in the country are ongoing, but SWAT teams are cracking down and arresting hundreds of peaceful protesters. Host Marco Werman speaks with Belarus analyst Alesia Rudnik.

An estimated 32 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in this year's elections. But many may not feel like they belong in this political process. Journalist Michelle Garcia talks to The World's Marco Werman about this sense of belonging and unbelonging — and what candidates and their campaigns have missed in the process.

Residents of Mauritius are racing to stop the spread of a major oil spill off its coastline. Experts are calling it the worst environmental crisis in the island country's history. And as The World's Halima Gikandi reports, ordinary Mauritians are pitching in with unique solutions.

Russia has granted regulatory approval to a vaccine against COVI-19, but the vaccine hasn’t been thoroughly tested. Gary Kobinger, an infectious disease expert who helped develop an Ebola vaccine, tells Marco Werman about the dangers of cutting corners in a vaccine trial.

The coronavirus pandemic is hitting Brazil's poor and unemployed population particularly hard. And now, housing evictions are soaring. More than 2,000 families have been thrown out of their homes during the pandemic. But housing advocates are pushing back, as Michael Fox reports from southern Brazil.

National security reporter Laicie Heeley says America’s focus on military preparation comes with a cost and has allowed the US to get hammered by the coronavirus. In this segment from her "Things that go Boom" podcast, she explains why preparing for future wars left Washington ill-prepared for the pandemic.

Canada's largest remaining ice shelf has broken apart, alarming scientists. University of Ottawa glaciologist Luke Copland tells host Marco Werman about the significance of this break and what it means for the Arctic.

A night of protest and violence across Belarus follows a highly disputed election on Sunday. Host Marco Werman gets details about the ongoing political crisis there from reporter Charles Maynes, who joins him from Moscow.

Jimmy Lai, a media mogul in Hong Kong and critic of China's Communist Party, was put in handcuffs and pulled out of his office today — while his arrest was livestreamed on social media. The World's Patrick Winn tells host Marco Werman that it's the biggest arrest so far under China's harsh new security law targeting dissent in Hong Kong.

“It was like the doors to hell had opened.” That’s how one doctor described the scene at his hospital in Beirut after the massive blast last Tuesday. The World’s Shirin Jaafari speaks with medical staff coping with the crisis in Lebanon's capital city.

Thousands of angry protesters stormed the streets of Beirut demanding the ousting of the country’s political elite, leading to the resignations of several ministers. Host Marco Werman speaks with Sami Atallah, director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies in Beirut.

In a week filled with tragedy, anger and frustration following the massive explosion in Beirut’s port, one glimmer of light is Fairuz, Lebanon's most beloved singer, and her song "Li Beirut," which means "For Beirut." The song captures the beauty and pain that the city conjures for many people.

Is globalization dead or is it on life support? There's the rise of nationalism, distrust of trading partners, disruptions caused by a pandemic. Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of The Economist, has been given this some serious thought lately. She joins us from London.

After months on the ground, airlines are back in the air in East Africa. This week, Kenya and Rwanda allowed international flights to resume. But as Africa records more than one million cases, the aviation industry is looking very different. The World's Halima Gikandi reports.

Days after learning her novel "This Mournable Body" was longlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction, Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga was arrested for joining nationwide demonstrations against President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Host Marco Werman spoke to her about the protest, her work and her hopes for Zimbabwe’s future.

The president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, was sworn in for a second five-year term this week. But, it was a group of lawmakers who stole the show during the official ceremony. Members of the opposition party showed up outside parliament and formed a rainbow flag with their clothing in a demonstration of support for LGBTQ rights. Conservative politicians in Poland say the rainbow flag is a threat to R...

After 26 years in power, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko faces his biggest challenge yet. Even after arresting and banning multiple opposition candidates, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is running a very successful campaign against the incumbent. So where does the US stand in all of this? and what is the current state of US-Belarusian relations? The World's Daniel Ofman reports.

There’s an anti-racism campaign in New Zealand that's taking an unconventional approach considering the man behind it played Adolf Hitler in last year's Oscar-winning film "Jojo Rabbit." The World's Amanda McGowan reports.

Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world faces a “generational catastrophe” because of school closures amid the coronavirus pandemic. Each country is grappling with difficult questions as the summer comes to a close. Balancing public health and reopening schools at a time when many families are suffering economically has become an endless debate across the globe. Wha...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would effectively ban Chinese social media apps TikTok and WeChat. Really? Isn't China, a one-party authoritarian state that bans things like this? Where's the national security threat in these social media apps? Sarah Birnbaum reports.

When a drug called Remdesivir showed promising signs in preliminary COVID-19 trials, the US allowed it to be used in hospitals. But around the globe, access to this new drug has been extremely difficult. In fact, it’s unclear whether huge parts of Latin America, especially, hit hard by COVID-19, will have a way to get it at all. The World’s Elana Gordon reports.

Beirut is still coming to terms with the blast that killed scores of people and wiped out Lebanon's main seaport Tuesday. One of the main concerns now is food. Host Marco Werman gets details from Samah Hadid of Norwegian Refugee Council in Beirut.

This week on The World's weekly look at climate change solutions, The Big Fix, The World's environment producer Anna Kusmer speaks to host Marco Werman and answers a listener question about the importance of ocean microbes to the global carbon cycle. Then, we hear the last poem in our series of young people around the world and their reflections on the climate crisis.